Chapter 19: The Chip for the Bargain
Evelyn sat up abruptly. Ignoring the dragging pain in her abdomen, she grabbed her phone and immediately called Director Wors.
Only a cold automated message came from the other end: “The number you have dialed is currently switched off.” Once, twice, three times... all with the same result. An ominous premonition gripped her heart. Damian’s people must have gone to see Director Wors!
Evelyn threw off the quilt and got out of bed. “Evelyn! What are you doing?” Ethan immediately restrained her. “The doctor told you to stay in bed! You cannot get up!”
“I have to go to the orphanage!” Evelyn’s eyes were frighteningly red. She grabbed Ethan’s arm. “Damian’s people went to see Director Wors! Director Wors is in danger!”
“How can you go in your current state? Your presence will only make the situation worse!”
“So I should just stand by and watch those scumbags harass her?!” Evelyn was practically screaming, tears welling up in her eyes. “Ethan, please, take me there. I must go!”
Seeing her eyes filled with desperation and pleading, Ethan could not voice his refusal. He knew that if he forced her to stay, she would only become more anxious and distressed, potentially causing greater harm to her health. Ethan closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, there was only reluctant compromise. “You are crazy. Absolutely crazy,” he muttered. “Get dressed. I will drive you.”
At the entrance of the orphanage, two black sedans were parked conspicuously. Several men in suits surrounded the white-haired Director Wors, their tone filled with undisguised coercion and temptation.
“As long as you persuade Miss Evelyn to return home, the Omni Group will not only drop the acquisition but will also donate a large sum of money to the orphanage.”
“Evelyn is not your bargaining chip!” Director Wors flatly refused.
“Get out of here!” Evelyn rushed over, placing the Director behind her. The leading man saw her and sneered, “Mrs. Green, the boss’s patience is limited.”
During the altercation, the man impatiently shoved Evelyn.
“Do not touch her!” Director Wors instinctively stepped forward to shield her. Her elderly body stumbled and fell to the ground, letting out a painful grunt.
“Director!” Evelyn shrieked. Watching the Director painfully clutch her leg, Evelyn trembled with rage and immediately dialed the police.
The arrival of the police forced Damian’s men to temporarily retreat. At the hospital, the X-ray showed Director Wors had a fractured leg.
Evelyn stood vigil by the bedside, her guilt suffocating. “Silly girl,” Director Wors said, her face pale, yet she squeezed Evelyn’s hand. “This is not your fault. Do not let anyone beat you down.”
Just then, Evelyn’s phone screen lit up. It was a text message from Damian, brief and cruel. “Withdraw the police report, or the Omni Group will make the orphanage disappear from the map tomorrow.”
Evelyn slowly turned her head to look at Director Wors in the hospital bed. Her gray hair clung messily to her temple, and the face that usually wore a gentle smile was now tightly furrowed with pain. The leg encased in a thick plaster cast stabbed at Evelyn’s eyes.
It was her. She was the one who brought disaster to the person who helped her. If she had not resisted, not run away, not been so naive as to think calling the police would bring justice... Director Wors would not be lying here.
Her other hand instinctively covered her lower abdomen. It was flat, yet it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. A life was quietly forming there, too fragile to withstand any major turmoil. The doctor’s words still echoed in her ears, “absolutely no more stress.” But now, Damian had delivered the cruelest stress of all.
Evelyn picked up her phone. The screen’s light illuminated her bloodless face. She found the recent call to the police, her finger hovering over the redial button, unable to press it. Pressing this button meant surrendering to that man. She could almost see Damian on the other end of the line, giving a scornful smile of a victor.
Evelyn closed her eyes. A stream of tears slid down her cheek, splattering on the phone screen and blurring into a watermark. When she opened her eyes again, the last trace of hesitation and warmth had been completely extinguished in her beautiful eyes.
She pressed the redial button.
The call was quickly answered. “Hello, this is the City Police Department.” “I... I would like to... withdraw the police report filed this afternoon regarding St. Jude’s Orphanage.” The officer on the other end seemed surprised and paused before asking formally, “Could you state the reason, ma’am?”
“It was... it was a misunderstanding,” Evelyn heard herself say. “We have settled it privately.” She hung up the phone and tossed it aside as if it were something filthy. The whole world went quiet. Only the regular beeping of the medical equipment and her own hollow heartbeat remained in the ward.
Evelyn lowered her head, looking at her slightly trembling hands, then slowly clenched them into fists.
“Is Eleanor Wors’ family here? Could you please go to the lab to pick up the latest test results?” A nurse rushed in from outside.
“Yes, I will go now.” Evelyn tucked Director Wors into bed and stepped out of the ward.
She was about to find the nurse and ask for the location of the lab, but she overheard the nurses’ whispers in the hospital corridor, buzzing like flies.
“Did you hear? Dr. Ethan has been suspended.” “How is that possible? He is so brilliant!” “He crossed a powerful man, Damian Green of the Omni Group. Serves him right for interfering.”
Evelyn’s feet were nailed to the spot. Her blood instantly turned cold. It was Damian again. He was like a mad dog, tearing at everyone who tried to help her. Ethan’s future, Director Wors’ orphanage... This debt, piece by piece, weighed heavily upon her. Where else could she run?
After picking up the test report, Evelyn tried to calm herself down. She washed her face with cold water in the restroom. Seeing her pale reflection in the mirror, her hand subconsciously moved to her lower abdomen. There was a life here, an inseparable connection between her and Damian. Perhaps he would change because of this child? For this child, and for the people she had dragged into her mess, perhaps... perhaps she should try one more time. Was that eight years of affection truly reduced to mere ashes?
With trembling hands, she sent a text message to Damian, “Damian, let us talk.”